Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel Sours on Donald Trump

Peter Thiel’s support for Donald Trump did not come cheap. While Thiel’s $1.25 million donation to the Trump campaign could have been a rounding error on the Silicon Valley billionaire’s bank statement, his political advocacy cost him untold social capital in the overwhelmingly liberal Bay Area. Yet even as he became a pariah in some corners of San Francisco, Thiel was fervent in the defense of his convictions. “No matter what happens in this election, what Trump represents isn’t crazy and it’s not going away,” Thiel declared in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. just before the election. “He points toward a new Republican Party beyond the dogmas of Reaganism. He points even beyond the remaking of one party to a new American politics that overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking, and reckons with reality.”

Thiel’s incredible gamble seemed to pay off, for a time. During the transition period, Thiel was a top adviser to the president-elect, playing a crucial role in several staffing decisions and flanking Trump, opposite Mike Pence, during the administration’s tech summit at Trump Tower in December. Thiel continued to serve as a kingmaker throughout the first month of Trump’s presidency and was said to be consolidating his power within the West Wing. Back in San Francisco, Thiel’s employees reportedly began referring to their boss as “the shadow president.”

More recently, however, Thiel appears to have soured on his riskiest, most controversial investment. BuzzFeed News reports that while Thiel remains publicly supportive of the president, he has repeatedly criticized Trump in private, describing the White House as “incompetent.” Citing three sources who recounted some half-a-dozen private conversations, BuzzFeed’s Ryan Macwrites that Thiel sees Trump as a one-term president and doesn’t think he would win re-election in 2020. According to two anonymous sources, Thiel expressed as early as January that “there is a 50 percent chance this whole thing ends in disaster.” An unnamed guest who attended an event with Thiel in May said the venture capitalist appeared “annoyed” with the first few months of Trump’s presidential tenure.

Some of the animus may be more personal than political. One person who recently spent time with Thiel told the Hive that the iconoclastic billionaire does not enjoy spending time with the president. While Trump has said he “deeply loves Peter Thiel,” Thiel has avoided the Trump circus in the West Wing. An avowed libertarian, Thiel was initially excited by Trump’s unorthodox style and willingness to upend the establishment. But the disruption that Trump has brought to Washington doesn’t appear to be the kind that Thiel was betting on.

Thiel, whose book Zero to One was a must-read for Trump campaign staffers last year, did not deny BuzzFeed’s reporting. “The night he won the election, I said President Trump would face an awesomely difficult task,” Thiel said via a spokesperson. “Today it’s clear that resistance to change in Washington, D.C. has been even fiercer than I anticipated. We still need change. I support President Trump in his ongoing fight to achieve it.” A spokesperson for Thiel also responded to allegations that Thiel doesn't enjoy spending time with Trump. “Whoever says that is wrong,” he told The Hive.